poll: in the giants/pats game next week, who do you rest?

[silverwhisper]

on the heels of the giants victory yesterday over buffalo, i immediately began wondering if tom coughlin would rest any of his first team (most notably, plaxico burress and brandon jacobs). they have to play the following week anyway.

and if you're belichick, you could rest a few starters, and frankly, i think that even playing the second team the pats would win against the giants anyway.

so if you were either head coach, who, if anyone, would you rest?

[Detritus]

New England - Two Brady-to-Moss TD passes are in the cards, I'm guessing. They will try at least semi-hard to make this happen, because when are Brady and Moss going to get this close to 50 and 23 again? I would probably pull defensive starters before offensive in this game.

New York - They are now locked into the #5 seed, I believe, so nothing but pride is on the line. The kind of things they have to stop don't require Jacobs and Burress, so they probably get to rest. All able-bodied first-team defensive players are on the field as long as Brady and Moss are.

[Paulypalooza]

New England - Two Brady-to-Moss TD passes are in the cards, I'm guessing. They will try at least semi-hard to make this happen, because when are Brady and Moss going to get this close to 50 and 23 again? I would probably pull defensive starters before offensive in this game.
I would bet the farm that Brady-to-Moss hookup is going happen at least twice.

I don't see Belichick pulling starters until the game is out of reach. Just like the TD record how often is he going to get another chance at 16-0. There have been several other games earlier in the season where the game was out of reach and instead of running the ball and eating clock the Pats continued the throw the ball.

I truly belive that Belichick and the rest of the Pats want 16-0 almost as much as they want a championship



New York - They are now locked into the #5 seed, I believe, so nothing but pride is on the line. The kind of things they have to stop don't require Jacobs and Burress, so they probably get to rest. All able-bodied first-team defensive players are on the field as long as Brady and Moss are.

I don't know what the Giants injury situation is but I think they will play starters as long as the Pats do just so they don't get beat to badly. If the G-men have a chance to win I could see them playing starters the entire game just so they can say that they knocked of the Pats 16-0 run.

[silverwhisper]

det: the way the giants offense plays, i'm fairly certain the pats can play their second team d from the opening series and still not worry. and an excellent point re: brady/moss and their numbers.

pauly: the giants injury situation: burress has been playing all season on a bad ankle and knee, IIRC. he's their sole credible deep threat and until yesterday's game and the emergence of ahmad bradshaw, the only player on the team w/ a serious threat to bust a big play. shockey's out, not that he's been particularly productive for most parts of the season.

[Parzival]

Starters play at least the first half. (I might sit some injured players, depending on the severity).

We've seen it happen before. If you rest your starters, especially if they've got a bye in the first play-offs round, they're going to come out rusty. (Heck, we see it all the time with teams that only had a first-round bye.)

[Wook]

New England - Two Brady-to-Moss TD passes are in the cards, I'm guessing. They will try at least semi-hard to make this happen, because when are Brady and Moss going to get this close to 50 and 23 again? I would probably pull defensive starters before offensive in this game.

Next year when they push for 60 in earnest after beefing up with the #3 overall pick in the draft... :sawink2:

[silverwhisper]

man, that light penalty the pats drew is really honking you off, isn't it, ****? :>

[Wook]

man, that light penalty the pats drew is really honking you off, isn't it, ****? :>

Not that the penalty was "light", it was actually more harsh than anything else that's ever been done by the league. What's honked me off is the hamfisted cover up by the NFL and the about face that I've seen every sports writer make WRT the Pats over the course of the year.

I fully expect the Pats to make it to the super bowl for the next 2 years though and I expect next year to be better, statisticly, than this year if they keep the team together.

[Brother Brian]

They'll have to beef up the D to be better, expect to lose Bruschi and Seau at least if they win the Bowl. (Maybe Harrison as well.)

[Detritus]

The Giants have certainly impressed through three quarters. What a ball game.

[Detritus]

Just like that, there's 50 and 23. Dang.

[Wook]

So ed do you still think your boys didn't have a chance? Because that looked like one hell of a game to me...

[silverwhisper]

****: i gotta say, given that good eli showed up last night, no. one dropped pass (by amani toomer) and bad clock management might've led to a different outcome, but this isn't a game of woulda, coulda or shoulda, as a local sportswriter liked to say.

i was assuming bad eli was gonna show up. you know bad eli: he's the one who threw 4 picks against the vikes, completed a pass directly to brian urlacher at soldier field...eli doesn't usually perform well under the spotlight, i think, and this was gonna be as big a spotlight as there could be.

but last night, eli impressed me, as did the giants. he finally showed the kind of player he can really be, perhaps for the first time all season. he played almost as well in the season opener, a loss to dallas.

i heard tix were going for $26k. seriously, now: either a game, or a car. ?!

[Brother Brian]

I was impressed by the fire the Giants played with, but...

The Pat's D started slow, and played as badly as they could in the first half. They expected the Giants to roll over and play dead, and got smacked around for it.

As a Pat's fan, the game gives me confidence going into the playoffs. My fear is that 16-0 is going to bring the Pat's in with too much confidence. This game should solve that.

[Wook]

I was impressed by the fire the Giants played with, but...

The Pat's D started slow, and played as badly as they could in the first half. They expected the Giants to roll over and play dead, and got smacked around for it.

As a Pat's fan, the game gives me confidence going into the playoffs. My fear is that 16-0 is going to bring the Pat's in with too much confidence. This game should solve that.

My bet, right now, is that you guys are going to get ganked by the Jaguars. They have the right combination of good D and dominant running game that seems to be needed to take the Pats down.

I do not believe either way that the pats are going to make it to the big dance.

[Brother Brian]

The only team I'm worried about is Indy.

I don't think the Jags can keep it varied enough to beat the Pats. Their best hope is weather, like the Pat's had to overcome a couple of weeks back vs. the Jets.

Maroney has to toughen up and put his shoulder to the hole, or he's going to lose his spot to Faulk.

[Parzival]

Varied? <quirks eyebrow>
Last I checked, Jacksonville's passing game is *much* better than New England's running game.

The Jags are one of the scariest teams in the postseason. Especially when playing outside in January conditions.

[silverwhisper]

jags handling the pats appears to be quite the meme in football circles of late. :>

[Parzival]

<grin> Can I point out that I was several weeks ahead of the curve?